Gifted
by IndigoisBlue
Summary: A small percentage of the population is born with a supernatural ability that manifests around the age of sixteen, and take years to learn to control and grow. These people are called the Gifted. However, there was once a pair of best friends whose powers manifested ten years earlier, who learnt to control and use their abilities far before anyone else. This is their story.
1. Chapter 1

When Marinette was little, her favourite game was hide and seek. She had always been good at hiding in the shadows, so good that no one could ever find her.

No one except for her lifelong friend, Adrien.

If she was the shadow, then he was the light that saw through it. He was a bright and happy child, accepting and kind. Even as a child, he was confident and sure of himself, always looking for the bright side of things. Marinette on the other hand, was shy and reclusive, tending to prefer close company to a playground, but when it came down to it, she was just as happy and positive.

Neither of them could remember when they had met, only that they had always been… connected somehow, and that they were everything the other wasn't. They were complete opposites, yet they were exactly the same. Which was why when one day, when the two found out that one of them was different, it came as no surprise the other was as well.

It all happened in the park one day when they were five.

Marinette was hiding in the shadow of a tree as she usually would, and Adrien was trying to find her. He spotted her crouching in the shadow of the oak behind the equipment. He ran over to her, before jumping on her back, surprising her. They both started giggling, when there came a loud banging from the other side of the equipment, then screaming. They looked over to where the sound was coming from, both of them peeking from behind the tree. At the time, neither of them understood what they saw. It was a scary looking man carrying a large black device, shouting something strange at the top of his voice, before shaking the device around, making people fall asleep.

Then something strange happened, the scary man had started walking over to them both, and Marinette wrapped her arms around Adrien, wishing for nothing but to protect him, and for the man to leave them alone and die. The whites of her eyes darkened, leaving only the bluebell of her irises visible, and she began to cry black tears of fear. The man stopped and stared at the two children, tilting his head as if to say, "Where did the two of them go," before turning away and shaking the black device once more.

"The scary man's not looking anymore, this is our chance to move," Adrien said, urging his best friend towards the road.

They bolted, dodging all the sleeping people, making it to the other side of the park.

 _Don't they know the scary man is there?_ Adrien thought, _why are they sleeping in the middle of the day? Wake up everyone!_

His pupils, previously black, began to clear and turn the pure white of his sclera, and he shed a cloudy white tear. The people who had been sleeping began to open their eyes and crawl away from the park, then get up and run.

They made it to the other side of the road when the scary man noticed them again, and ran towards them. There was the sound of screeching, before the man fell over and stopped moving. In this moment, the two friends though opposite thoughts, that were once more the same.

Adrien being the kind-hearted and forgiving soul, thought _aww, the poor man must be so tired. I should let him sleep_

Marinette thought with more than a little certainty, _he isn't sleeping, and neither were those people. sleeping people aren't covered in blood. They were dead, but now they're not. But the scary man is, and he will stay dead_

The two of them ran as fast as they could, flying abnormally fast down the streets to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

"Adrien! Marinette! Oh god, we were so worried about you two. We heard gunfire down the street, and people screaming. When we heard the emergency warning on the radio saying someone was attacking the people in the park, we feared the worst," Sabine, Marinettes mother cried.

"Oh thank god you two are alright! Adrien, your father will be here in an hour. He's on his flight back from New York right now. I'll call him to tell him you're alright," Tom added.

Marinettes parents continued checking them both over, before sending them both upstairs with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

As they played together in the pale violet painted room, they both became aware of a whispering from downstairs.

"Yes, yes, no, there's no need to worry, no he's fine," the voice was saying. It was Tom, Marinettes father, "No, I can't tell. There seems to be nothing different about them. No, Adrien is fine Gabe, there were no casualties, only a few minor injuries. I heard the shooter was hit by a car and killed instantly. Strange I know. Do you think they… hang on, I'll put you onto my wife. She knows more about these things than I do,"

The friends looked at each other.

"Hey Adrien? What do you think they're talking about—Adrien!" she rushed forward, the voice of her mother dimming, to examine her face, "Your eyes! The black bit in the middle turned white! Hey, what's the black mark on your shirt?"

She touched it. It felt slightly damp. Getting an idea, she licked the finger that touched it, and as she expected, it was salty.

Her tears.

"Quick, Adrien, what colour are my eyes?" she asked, staring at him.

"Blue of course—wait! The whites, they turned…" he stuttered, before rushing her to her mirror, "They turned black. How…?"

"I think," Marinette started, then paused, trying to think of a way of putting it that would leave Adriens' innocence vaguely intact. Marinette always had a darker way of thinking, but it seemed to be just how she thought.

"When everyone was asleep earlier, and the scary man was looking for us, I tried to cover you to hide you," she said, omitting the part about wishing the man would die, "And even though he stared right at us, he couldn't see us. I think… I must be a superhero!" she laughed excitedly, running to her closet and pulling out her toy cape and swishing it around.

"Woah! So cool," Adrien said, watching his friend play, then thinking, "But, then why have my eyes changed?"

"Oh," she replied overjoyed, "You must be a superhero too! Quick, what did you think when we were running away?"

"I was just thinking about how silly everyone was, falling asleep in the middle of the day, and I told them to wake up!" he answered in realisation, "Maybe that's my super power! I can make people do things with my mind,"

"Test it out! Try and make me do something!" Marinette ordered.

"Okay, I'm trying," he said, envisioning her jumping up and down.

She remained motionless.

"Aww, that would have been so cool," he said, realising that it wasn't working, "Well, it must be something else,"

"Don't worry Adri," Marinette consoled her friend, "We're only five. Our powers will probably grow as we do, like superman! Wait, won't mama and papa have noticed?"

"They didn't seem to. Maybe only we can see it! So cool, like, super-vision!"

"Yeah! Maybe one day we'll be able to see through walls or into the future or something! One day we're going to be the coolest superheroes ever! But maybe…" Marinette trailed off.

"What is it Mari? I can tell when you've thought of something, but you're reluctant to tell me," Adrien said, crossing his arms.

"Well~" she started, "You know how in those movies where someone finds out they have a super power, then they have to save the world, but they struggle to because they're unprepared and need to be trained?"

"Yes… oh. I see what you're getting at," Adrien said excitedly, beginning to bounce up and down.

"We should as our parents to enrol us in Karate or fencing or something. I want to try Archery and… boxing or Taekwondo! The people on the television look so cool and strong, I want to try that!" Marinette squealed.

"Hmm," Adrien thought, trying to come up with something fun he could learn, that would still count as training, "I think fencing could be fun! Then I could be like a pirate and cut things in half! I think we should both do Taekwondo, but I also want to try boxing, it sounds so fun!" he whined.

"I know, we could go to all the classes together! Whenever you go fencing, I'll be playing archery, and we can do Taekwondo and Boxing together!" she pondered, fingers tapping her lower lip, "But we need secret identities. Any suggestions?"

"Hmm, my father wants me to model for his company, so in the day time, I can be Adrien Agreste, famous super model!" he fell over in giggles, accompanied by Marinette.

"I can be a designer and make all your clothes! And our superhero costumes! Hmm, I want a pink one with flowers on it! You can have an orange one with trucks!" she teased, chasing her friend around the room.

"No fair! You know I don't like orange, or trucks! I want a blue one with a big A on the chest, for Adrien," he decided, crossing his arms indignantly, before grinning, "And you can have a bright yellow M, for Marinette,"

"Ew, gross, yellow does not go with pale pink," she retorted in fake disgust, pinching her nose and looking away, "Maybe instead I'd have something that blends into the background, I mean, it's pretty easy to spot people running around in pink and blue fighting bad guys, we should stay normal,"

"You're right, but I still want a mask!"

"Just a sec," Marinette began rummaging through her drawers once more, "Aha, found it! Close your eyes,"

He did as he was told, feeling her fumbling and trying to tie something around his face.

"Now look!" she said, holding up a mirror.

She had tied a strip of black fabric about his eyes in an imitation of the ninja turtles, but to his five year old mind, it was awesome.

"Wow Mari! I feel like a real superhero!"

They laughed and played around, until there came a gentle knocking at the trapdoor.

"Come in!" Marinette called, unlocking the trapdoor.

In a second, Adrien was being half suffocated by his father.

"Are you alright, are you hurt, are you bruised, are you traumatised, do you want remedial chocolate," Gabriel Agreste fretted over his son as he dragged him down the stairs, "Don't be afraid to ask for anything, do you need anything to drink, cookies, oh god what's that!"

"What's what?"

"That black stain on your shoulder, oh god you were hurt weren't you, quick take us to the hospital!" Gabriel shouted at his gorilla like driver.

"No, it's just a stain dad! I must have spilt ink on it or something," Adrien argued, "I wasn't hurt, only weirded out by your worrying! I don't get what you're worried about, a crazy guy came along and made lots of people fall asleep before falling asleep himself! It's not like anything bad happened. Everyone woke up anyway,"

Gabriel paused and looked up towards Marinettes parents, raising an eyebrow to which they shrugged.

"Very well then, so long as you're okay," Gabriels' face softened, before he gave his son a sly grin, "Are you sure you don't need any remedial chocolate?"

Adriens eyes widened and he nodded furiously, "Oh yes, I definitely need some remedial chocolate! My foot hurts and so does my finger, and my knee, and my… my tongue needs the most chocolate,"

"Oh dear," Gabriel pretended to step back in shock and worry, "We definitely need some chocolate then. Say goodbye to Marinette and we can have some,"

"Okay," Adrien giggled, running and hugging his friend.

"Bye Adrien," she whispered.

"By Mari!" he whisper shouted back, before running to the car.

They waved until they were out of sight from each other.

"Okay mama, I'm going to play in my room," Marinette decided, before running off.

Once she was out of earshot, Sabine turned to her husband and asked, "Do you think they're…?"

"They couldn't possibly be. We'd know if they were," Tom replied, shaking his head, "I don't think either of them could keep it a secret,"

"You're probably right," she agreed, "But I worry, for the both of them. What if they aren't ready when the time comes?"

"Gabriel and I already agreed to broach the subject of self defence classes, or something along the lines of that, I only hope that they go along with it," Tom sighed.

"I think they will. Our families have always been fighters, as you well know," Sabine nudged her husband.

"I think I still have bruises from our first meeting," he replied, nudging her back.

"Oh well," Sabine smiled, "Even if our days of—"

She was cut off by the sound of light footsteps.

"I almost forgot," said and excited Marinette, "I wanted to ask, can I go to boxing and taekwondo classes? And archery? I've decided that I want to learn how to prevent events like today from repeating,"

"What do you mean honey?" Sabine asked, glancing worriedly at Tom.

"Adrien said they were sleeping," Marinette almost whispered, before looking up at her parents, "But people don't roll in red paint before going to sleep,"


	2. Chapter 2

"Honey, do you want to take any croissants to class today? It'll be a good way to make a few new friends," Sabine called from downstairs.

"No point," Marinette called back, tying her hair into twin pigtails, just as they had been when she was little, "I'm telling you, my class this year will consist of Chloé, Sabrina, Nino and probably whoever else Chloé gets her father to convince monsieur Damocles to throw together."

"Come on Mari, you're being pessimistic about things. Surely, she won't be in your class again," Sabine assured her daughter as she walked down the stairs, dressed in pastel violet jeans and a black jacket over a black t-shirt printed with violet cherry blossoms. "Fine then, at least take some for the friends you've already made," Sabine reasoned.

"If it will make you happy." Marinette smiled, taking the box and heading out the door, making it about ten steps before tripping and nearly knocking someone over.

She caught herself and the man just in time, thanking her ever quickening reflexes and years of training.

"I'm terribly sorry monsieur," she apologised, balancing her, thankfully intact, box of croissants on one of her hands as she picked up his cane and helped him across the road.

"No, no, the fault is mine. I should have been more careful," the old man apologised in return, taking the cane. "I was just looking for my, ah, here he is. Sorry, I was just trying to find my… son."

He nodded and gestured to the approaching figure. She couldn't quite tell his age, he looked seventeen, but there was something in his gait that spoke of age beyond his years. He had dark hair and pale green eyes that just didn't sit right with her. He was tall, about six feet or something, wearing all dark blues. But there was something else, he was… shifting and shimmering. It was like looking at a heat haze, but surrounding and cloaking him.

The sight of the two strangers smiling at her sent a warning signal up her spine, and she prepared to run. Forcing herself to relax, she merely smiled sweetly, before saying, "I'm sorry, I have to go to school. Have a good day,"

She forced herself to walk at an average pace, heading towards the school. Although, she did allow herself to listen in on their conversation.

"Was it just me, or was there something off about that girl?" the tall man asked.

"I can't tell. The way she acted and the way that she held herself told of considerable skill in combat, but if she was, well, you know, then she would have reacted violently to our presence. She seemed too casual and relaxed to be one of the Gifted," the old man replied uneasily.

"Hmm, she could be one of the Forgone," the taller man suggested, the idea not seeming quite right.

"She certainly did have an unnaturally dark aura about her. We should keep an eye on her," the two stopped talking and walked off just as Marinette reached the second crossing.

'I'm willing to bet they're Gifted too,' Marinette thought, 'in that case, I'd better stay silent. Who knows how far their hearing range is.'

She thought to a few years back, when she had eavesdropped on her parents when experimenting with her advanced hearing. From what she had heard, she had learnt three things.

There were super humans in her world called the Gifted, and that she, Adrien and both of their parents were a part of them, although none of them knew that she and Adrien were as well.

There was a group of Gifted called the Foregone whose goal was to hunt down and kill any Gifted who does not join them in corrupting the world, just as the Gifted try to kill them off.

That their powers were supposed to manifest at the age of fifteen, but that they hadn't. They manifested much earlier than what she gathered was normal, and as such were considerably more developed than any others her age, but that they would still grow and mature throughout her life.

She kept her pace even and calm, continuing on to school where she would undoubtedly be in the same class as Chloé again. She looked up to the sky suddenly, noticing her eyes were no longer burning from the glare.

'Hmm, looks like a storm's brewing,' she thought to herself with a giggle.

She hurried up the school steps, stopping to check her online timetable, before walking quickly to her first class, English with Miss Bustier.

As predicted, Chloé was in her class, as was Mylene, Nino, Juleka, Rose, Sabrina etc. the exact same class as last year. She walked to the second row on her right and sat down next to the only unfamiliar figure in the room.

"Hi!" she greeted, somewhat relieved at the new face, "My name is Marinette, what's yours?"

"Alya," the girl replied cheerfully, "Have you been at this school long?"

"Yep!" she stated dryly, "This is the exact same class as the past two years. I bet you in a minute or two, a girl with pink hair, a tall boy with a blond quiff thing, a shorter boy with dark skin and glasses and a boy with bright red hair will walk in. Their names are Alix, Kim, Max and Nathanael respectively."

"I counted the seats, 'cause, that's what I do," Alya laughed nervously, "and there seems to be one person missing."

"Yeah, our class has always been two students short, though, now it's one. I'm glad to meet someone new though." Marinette sighed, plonking on her desk and listening to the distant noise of approaching classmates, coming in the order Marinette predicted.

Once they were all seated, the teacher stood at the front of the room to make an announcement.

"Okay class! Today we have two new students. First is Alya Césaire, why don't you come up and tell us a bit about yourself," the teacher encouraged.

Alya beamed and raced to the front of the room.

"Hi, I'm Alya. I'm into superheros and I really want to be a reporter one day. My last school was in Martinique and was really boring, and we had to wear this awful green uniform." This got pitying groans from most of the girls in the class, including Chloé, "Thankfully my mother had to move here for work, she's head chef at the grand Paris hotel, so I get to spend a fair bit of time in the kitchen too. It seems really nice here in France and I'm glad I get the chance to meet you all."

She walked back to her seat.

"Now, unfortunately our other classmate hasn't shown up yet. Poor boy, must be lost—" she was cut off by the door slamming open and an extremely happy looking Adrien walking in. "Oh, there he is. Well class, I would like you to meet our final student; Adrien Agreste. Would you like to introduce yourself Adrien?" The teacher asked, mildly suspicious of his remarkable timing.

"Sure!" he smiled at the class and began, "Hi, I'm Adrien. I'm not sure what to say really. I really like videogames and fencing. I was homeschooled for most of my life, so forgive me if I seem socially awkward," the class laughed slightly. "I'm really excited to meet you all and try out this whole 'school' thing."

He smiled and sat down right in front of Marinette.

"Now, seeing as you're all very excited about the new students, and as our first day started late, I'll give you the rest of the lesson to introduce yourselves, but I expect you all focused after recess." Miss Bustier smiled and sat at her desk organising her next lesson.

The students stood up and began to catch up. The whole class introduced themselves to the new students. Unfortunately, that is when Chloé struck.

Marinette was just about to surprise Adrien by tapping him on the shoulder, as she had her face hidden when he walked in, when Chloé shouted at her loudly, "How dare you presume to touch my Adrikins! What makes you think that the Adrien Agreste, model and son of world famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, would want to even lay eyes on you?!"

All eyes, the teacher's included, widened and whipped towards the completely nonchalant Adrien, shocked at the realisation that he was so famous.

"Now, now Chloé," he said, ever kind and patient, that isn't very—" he turned and saw Marinette waving slightly at him, suppressing giggles.

"Marinette!" He cried, jumping deftly over the desk and hugging her tightly. "I can't believe I didn't notice you before, it must have been the pigtails. I haven't seen you in them for years! Yes! Dad is the best! He said that I would enjoy the class I would be put in. I thought at first he meant because of Chloé, but that seemed wrong! Yay, best day ever!"

Marinette could do little to stop the endless laughter pouring from her lips.

"Well it's a surprise for me too," she smiled.

"Wait, you know her?" Chloé shouted, disgusted.

"Yep! Mari and I have been friends forever! Our parents knew each other in school, and our mums took turns babysitting us! Did Marinette never tell you?" he asked confused.

"No!" Chloé screamed, before muttering under her breath, "Otherwise I would have been nicer to her."

He turned to face an innocent looking Marinette, single brow raised in question.

"Well~ I would have told her, but I kept forgetting. Besides, I knew that one day your dad would let you go to school, and I figured it would be funnier this way," she snickered slightly, before smiling softly and saying quietly. "Besides, if I did, she would try to be my friend because I know you. That would feel weird and wrong. I decided it was better this way,"

Adrien could only smile and shake his head as Marinette introduced him to Alya and Nino.

"Now," Marinette said decisively, "We are all friends and as such we are going to get along and hang out and be overall friendly, deal? And then we can all eat these lovely croissants my mother insisted I pack to give you."

The three of them nodded, with a hint of fear, before breaking out into laughter at their new friends' childish expression, each taking one.

The four friends grew close extremely fast, and so far, the school year seemed to be going smoothly.

In fact, Marinette was thinking exactly this as she put away her books in her locker, when she heard a loud 'thump'. She turned towards the sound and saw one of the lockers had a large dent in it. It appeared that Kim had upset Ivan over something.

'Geez, Kim's been really pushing it lately,' she thought, 'I wonder what finally ticked him off? … Oh. Wasn't he planning to confess to Mylene?'

Ivan didn't show up for the next period, nor the one after. Eventually it was lunch and he was still missing. Marinette was beginning to think he had run off as she entered her next classroom. It was fifth period, history with Monsieur Rowland, though today they had a substitute for him. She sat at her seat and looked up as the teacher began to call roll.

She studied him. He was tall with dark hair and a disarmingly relaxed posture. He seemed familiar somehow, but where had she seen him? The name on the board read Monsieur Blue. He looked up and began to call roll, giving her a clearer look at him.

Beside her, Adrien whispered, "Hey, he kind of reminds me of this guy I ran into on the first day of school. I nearly knocked this old guy over and they seemed to be companions."

Her eyes widened, and she signed the word 'write' signalling they were being listened to.

"Yeah, I ran into a similar pair. The older man said he was his son. They do look oddly similar, huh?" she said, writing the words He can hear us, he's one of the gifted and he suspects I'm a forgone. Be wary of your words and actions.

"Wouldn't it be funny if they were the same person, and it turned out that you had knocked over your substitute teacher's father on the first day of school?" he laughed quietly, replying on paper Sure, to be safe, I'll keep the paper and burn it later. He looked up, noticing her worried expression, and continued Don't worry, if we stick together, we'll be fine. We took down our first terrorist at the age of five. We can handle a substitute teacher.

They both laughed before beginning to take notes from the board.

Suddenly there came a loud rumbling and crashing, before their door was knocked in by a huge stone monster.

"KIM!" it screamed, grabbing her classmate and jumped through the window, taking some of the wall with it, and crashed onto the street below.

"Okay class," their teacher said in a calm voice, instantly soothing them all. "I want you to slowly evacuate the building in an orderly fashion. Once you get there, I want you to join the other classes. I will stay behind you to make sure the monster doesn't come back, alright?"

The class complied, and soon, the teacher found himself alone in the room… or so he thought. As soon as the monster appeared, Marinette had grabbed a hold of Adrien, cloaking them from view, and Adrien cloaked their footsteps and breathing. Monsieur Blue looked about the room, listening carefully for any approaching students or teachers, before taking a round, copper coloured disk from his bag, and tapping it in the centre with a long fingernail. The disk lit up, causing Marinette to look away. It kept glowing with an unbearable light, so she asked Adrien what it was.

"It seems to be a copper mirror of sorts, only… I think he's talking to someone through it. I think it's the old man," he replied unnecessarily quietly, due to his own cloaking of his voice, "He's saying something about a… god I can hardly hear anything! Damn this cloaking. I think he mentioned something about a possible Forgone and an… akuma?"

"Akuma… akuma? Where have I heard that before? Let's see, it is the Japanese word for demon! Does that mean that what we saw was a demon?" She asked.

"No, I don't think so. It kinda looked like…"

"Ivan!" they said in unison.

"So, assuming he's been possessed…"

"Then we need to purify him…"

"And kill the demon!" Marinette finished excitedly, Adrien face palming at her eagerness at the idea, long since used to her attitude to death.

"Oh, you can look now. The light's gone," Adrien nudged his friend.

"Right. Okay, lets—,"

She was cut off as the teacher walked to the window and looked down. It was the fourth floor and quite a drop. He leaned forward, feet still on the ledge of what was once a window, but as he fell forward, he pushed off, leaving cracks in the cement walls, and landing four houses away.

"Well that confirms what we already know," Adrien sighed. "He's one of us. So should we try to hunt down Ivan?"

"Sounds good. East first?" there was a huge thump, before screaming coming from the east.

"Yeah, definitely east," Adrien hastily agreed with her.

They removed their cloaking, and stood, hands touching at the window. They closed their eyes, straining somewhat, before relaxing. Adrien could feel himself pull upwards, seeing only white-light behind his closed eyes, then it was as if his insides were being pulled in a million directions at once. However, he was so used to the feeling, he enjoyed it.

As he did this, Marinette allowed herself to sink downwards into a motionless blackness, seeing less than nothing, feeling everything. They let go of each other's hands and the bond holding them to the physical world was broken as Adrien dissolved fully into light, and Marinette melted into shadow.

They flew, or rather, shifted, towards the football stadium, just as Monsieur Blue arrived there. They hurriedly pulled themselves back into the material world, grabbing each other's hand and cloaking themselves once more.

"Marinette, can you sense where the demon is hiding?" Adrien asked.

"I can almost… uh, if only I didn't have to cloak myself. I think… in his hand! He's holding something that's possessing him. We just need to get him to open his hand," she replied frustrated, "If only we… Okay, first thing when we get home, I'm making masks,"

He laughed, "We just have to be careful. Hey, isn't Stoneheart bigger than before?" Adrien asked.

"…Stoneheart? Really?"

"Well he needed a name," Adrien huffed indignantly.

"Yeah, you're right, sorry,"

"Hey, watch what happens when he gets hit, he grows stronger… and now Blue seems to have realised it" said Adrien. " he changed his strategy, focusing on rescuing Kim, thankfully hes unconscious."

"Okay, I have a plan. You need to touch it to purify it, right? Well next time Blue is knocked away, we sneak in close and purify him, then I'll kill the demon, understand?" She asked.

He nodded.

A few seconds later, as Blue went flying out of the stadium, they raced forward. They broke the connection, both now able to be seen and heard. Adrien jumped onto Stonehearts back and concentrated, feeling the darkness flow from Ivan and into him, from where it flowed to Marinette. Stoneheart seemed to collapse, leaving Ivan in the fading rubble.

From the corner of her eye, Marinette spied a white butterfly.

The Akuma, she thought, narrowing her focus, Okay, my turn. Time to die, butterfly, see you in death. She giggled at the last part, linking hands again with Adrien. He went first, dissolving into light.

What happened next was so fast, it was hard to comprehend.

Blue came flying into the stadium, his eyes half-closed, mid-blink, as they locked with Marinette, right as she vanished.


End file.
